Undisputed master of the art market, Jeff Koons is neither more nor less than the most expensive living artist in the world. Born in 1955 in York in the United States, he is famous for his giant sculptures, his paintings, as well as his talent for provocation.
He studied at the Baltimore Art School in Chicago, but it is in finance that he will begin his career as a broker on Wall Street in commodities. Jeff Koons managed to combine his talents in the stock market and his passion for art by becoming the best investment of the 20th century.
Jeff Koons will be particularly marked by the iconography of advertising and American pop art of the 1980s. Consumer objects and everyday utensils will gain in value in his hands. He will take up the principle of Marcel Duchamp’s “ready made” and elevate them to the status of works of art, starting with vacuum cleaners or basketballs.
Particularly fond of kitsch, Jeff Koons will exploit this vein to the full and conquer collectors around the world. He uses the icons of popular culture labeled USA to add them to this aesthetic. Michael Jackson freezes in a white and golden porcelain, Popeye shimmers like a stainless steel balloon and the Hulk inflates with air in anger.
His work ‘Rabbit’ was auctioned in 2019 by Christie’s in New York and sold for $91 million. This historic sale made the sculpture the most expensive work by a living artist.
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